Friday, September 04, 2009

happy birthday

this was a smaller display. i wanted to get the moon in the frame. other displays filled a frame twice this size.

a view of the wharf from our house.

the city of capitola (our house is in this picture) was incorporated 60 years ago. maybe it was a partnership or a sole proprietor before that. i was 7 then and it looked the same to me as it did when i was 6. beach, wharf, lagoon. a month or so ago there was a street fair sorta 60th birthday celebration for the city. wednesday evening the city bought us all a fireworks display as a last big birthday hurrah. the obnoxiously loud PA was playing "it's my party and i'll cry if i want to" as the celebratory fireworks began. the launch pad was on the end of the wharf, which by google map reckoning is about 1000 feet from our house. wow. it was LOUD. the house shook with each stunning explosion. robin hid in the back bedroom. i have never seen big fireworks up so close. i watched some and took some pictures. it was over by 9:15. aahhhh. quiet. well, relatively quiet. there were still thousands of people and hundreds of cars to disperse.

but wait, a phone call from a hospital? my mom was in emergency after complaining earlier in the day of a painful neck. tests show nothing. probably a sprain or cramp, but she has to leave the hospital and is groggy from pain meds. off i go over the infamous highway 17 to san jose, to the same hospital where i came to see my father in 1975 when he had a major heart attack. he had successful bypass surgery and died of stroke complications in 1987. mom was indeed groggy and woozy, but ready to go home. i took care of her and got back to the birthday city at midnight. i saw her thursday morning. all ok save for a sore neck.